5 Unbelievable But True Excuses Employees Used At Work

At one point, all of us have – probably – come up with excuses to get out of trouble at work. Whether it’s an excuse as to why you’re late for a meeting, or an excuse as to why you didn’t get your monthly report turned in on time, when we’re in these situations, we typically count on the good grace of our managers to give us a free pass.

For the most part, managers tend to be forgiving as long as they don’t feel like you’re lying to them. But what happens when the reason you give sounds too wild to be true? Luckily for us, managers lurking on Reddit last week shared their stories regarding this exact situation. These excuses sound almost too ridiculous to be true. Almost.

I got IN Two Fender Benders In Less Than Two Hours

“Fifteen minutes before her shift is supposed to start I get a call from the employee saying she had just been in a fender bender but she was alright and would be at work in forty-five minutes to an hour after getting the insurance info sorted. Forty-five minutes later, I get another call. She wasn’t going to make it in to work that day because her car had been hit by another driver and was totaled. I didn’t believe her until I saw the pics of the three car sandwich with her car firmly squished in the middle.” –Vallantlycaustic

My Car Is In The River Right Now

“An employee called in that he was going to be late to work because ‘Uhh…my car is on the river right now.’ The manager laughed and didn’t believe him, but the proof was easy to come by. Right there on the morning news was his car and several others sitting on the ice in the middle of the river. The vehicles had been stolen the night prior, and then, utilizing a stretch of road near a high bank on one side of the river, the thieves had accelerated the cars towards the launch point with bricks on the vehicles’ accelerators.” –Aussydog

Do You Know What You're Worth?

My Car Has Three Flat Tires From A Mystery Box

“I had a guy no-show on me one time. He called like an hour after he was supposed to be there, saying that he blew out three tires while on his way to work. It turns out that he saw a box in the road and wrongly assumed it was empty. So he ran it over; It was a box of drywall screws. They scattered, blowing not only the tire he hit it with, but also both rear tires as well. Apparently, cars behind him also picked up screws, as they went around him before a fire truck was able to get there and block off the two lanes. He showed me a photo of him and a cop, standing next to a row of, like, 15 parked cars, all with flat and quickly deflating tires. And that’s the story of how my idiot coworker learned never to assume containers in the middle of the road are empty.” –Mic_Check_One_Two

I Had To Swim To Work

“One of my colleagues said he would be late to work because of heavy rains. It turned out that he was living in a flood-prone zone, and he showed up to office shirtless because it was wet and soiled by muddy water. He also showed up with a video of his car floating and totaled on the road near his house.” –LaPeauDouce

Tell Us What You Think!

What is the craziest excuse you’ve ever given at work? We want to hear from you! Comment below or join the discussion on Twitter!